Iran Wakes to New Syrian Reality

The fall of the Assad regime would be a blow to both countries, but Iran has much more at stake. As we've noted in past posts, Syria is crucial to Iran’s grand design in the Middle East; it is the keystone in the arch of Shiite states Iran has sought to build across the Fertile Crescent from Iraq through Lebanon. It was also the means by which Iran was able to support Hezbollah in Lebanon and construct an anti-Israel alliance with Hamas that helped offset Iran's deep disadvantages on the Arab street, making it look less like a "Persian" and "heretical" anti-Arab power and more like a leader of global Islam in the fight against the west.